It took one friendly match against Free State Stars for that club’s long-time assistant coach and scout Themba Sithole to realise they should sign Monnapule Saleng, the explosive winger driving Orlando Pirates’ attack this season.
It still took a week’s trial, after being roped into Stars from North West’s ORBIT TVET College’s Motsepe League (third-tier) team, to clinch the deal. It is another indictment on South Africa’s poor talent identification system that Saleng only arrived in the second-tier national first division, playing two seasons for relegated Stars, at 21 years of age.
He top-scored in the league in 2020-21, catching the eye of Orlando Pirates, who swooped to sign him from under the noses of Swallows FC. After starring in a Bafana Bafana third-string combination that won the Cosafa Cup in 2021, he was loaned by Bucs to Swallows, where he received guidance into the top-flight playing with uncle and former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns left-back Vuyo Mere.
It’s a sign of the impact he’s made in his first season at Pirates, after being recalled from his loan, that on Saturday Saleng will be Bucs' key player in attack in his second DStv Premiership Soweto derby against Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium (3.30pm).
Both coaches who scouted Saleng — Sithole for Stars, and Brandon Truter, when he tried to sign the player at the Birds — say it is the winger’s beach-ball sized lungs and work-rate that make him dangerous as much as his pace and dribbling ability.
Sithole, now technical director at Sekhukhune United, said now-defunct Stars would play a friendly against ORBIT each year because they knew the college produced talented players they could sign. “One of those we saw was Saleng.”
“I saw him in a friendly and took him straight away. Some of us with scouting experience, when you see a young player you don’t see a big star today, you see a big star in the next six months or a season. We saw in the boy that with a bit of work he was going places.
“We did not have to teach him how to dribble, pass or do the basics because he had that. Our main job was to try to build up a bit of strength and also give him the freedom to go everywhere [on the field].
“With his small body, if he stayed in one place the defenders would have an advantage. He’ll move from the left to the right and before you know it he’s in the centre, and before you know it he’s through on the goal. We encouraged that.
“As small as he is, he’s got a high endurance capacity. He’ll run, you’ll think he’s tired — he’ll never get tired.
“For me, if he focuses, soon we’ll be talking about him playing overseas because he’s got everything for an offensive player.”
Truter was Swallows coach as they were promoted to the Premiership and now is head coach of Sekhukhune, where he works with Sithole. He was frustrated when Bucs signed Saleng on a pre-contract ahead of 2021-22. The coach still got the player on loan. Not surprisingly for a player who made his entry into the top flight in his low 20s, Saleng was still raw at the Birds.
“His strength is his confidence. But he was new to the top flight and started a bit slow,” Truter said.
“Luckily his uncle was playing for Swallows too — Vuyo Mere — and that helped him settle quicker. I think the style of play at Swallows, giving him the freedom in that attacking three, also boosted his confidence.
With him in the last third it’s to score a goal. He backs himself from 20, 30 yards out. The majority of his goals came that way at Free State Stars.
— Brandon Truter
“But he has a big engine — he can run the line, run for 90 minutes, he’s a hard worker. Also as a coach you say, ‘This is what I want you to do — A, B, C,’ and he gets on with it.
“He’s got a fantastic attitude, high work-rate, cardio engine that can go for days non-stop and he’s aware too. If he’s on top of his game he’s hard to stop.”
Having a winger with a work rate can be beneficial for a coach.
“Helping defensively then getting up on the counterattack — he can do both,” Truter said.
“He has room to improve — definitely a bit more tactically in terms of occupying the right spaces. Because of his speed and technical ability, and he knows he’s good, he can take too much of a risk sometimes in the wrong places. But if you don’t take risks it can’t pay off.
“He’s getting the balance right though — when to pass, dribble and run. In his first season that was a bit of a struggle because players in the PSL are more aware than in the first division.”
Even as he stars for Pirates, Saleng’s late introduction to the Premiership shows through some remaining rawness — his cross can still be a weak point.
“His one vs one and positioning too. You’ll sometimes find him in a position where you don’t want an attacker,” Truter said.
“At Swallows we played a 4-3-3 with the front three staying in high positions; then you would find him defending deep, and you won the ball and there was no outlet on his side. But he’s made a lot of strides.”
Players from rural areas often don’t get that top-level coaching like a PSL club with a good youth structure can offer.
“But he’s from a good family,” Truter said. “Vuyo kept his head screwed on right, was always by his side to guide him at Swallows. Even now at Pirates Vuyo still guides him — being at Pirates can be daunting, and a young player can go off the rails.
“With his cross, he likes to shoot even from tight angles. With him in the last third it’s to score a goal. He backs himself from 20, 30 yards out. The majority of his goals came that way at Free State Stars.”
Chiefs will do well to be wary of such attributes on Saturday.
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